German newspaper Die Welt: "Britain on the way to the EU poorhouse"

There was much irritation among the Tories this week at the attention devoted by the BBC and others to the finding that UK average hourly wages have fallen by 5.5% since mid-2010, a faster rate of decline than every EU country except Portugal, the Netherlands and Greece. "It's a Labour story!", they cried, to which the BBC reasonably replied by pointing out that the figures were collated by the House of Commons library.

But despite the Conservatives' best efforts, the story has spread beyond these shores. As Ed Miliband's chief strategist Stewart Wood noted on Twitter last night, German newspaper Die Welt ran a piece on the figures yesterday headlined "Britain on the way to the EU poorhouse". As CCHQ boasts that growth over the last year (1.4%) has outstripped that of the eurozone (0.7%) and matched that of the US, it's an inconvenient reminder that not all are sharing in the recovery.

If Labour is to win the election, however, it won't be enough for it to convince voters that they're worse off under the Tories. It will also need to convince them that they'd be better off under Labour. In the 2012 US election, Mitt Romney similarly resurrected Ronald Reagan's famous line - "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" - but the electorate stuck with Obama because the numbers were moving in the right direction and they doubted Romney could do any better. The Tories hope and expect UK voters will take the same view of Labour in 2015. All of which explains why party activists are desperate for those "policy goodies".

My point is that we need to start fighting for a decent wage and standard of living for everybody. That a day's work should mean a fair day's pay, and that free healthcare, affordable housing, and reasonable job security are a human right that every civilized society should afford its citizens.

We should not be buying in to the bullshit that people are on the mend because of small increase in GDP growth. The vast majority of people in the UK are thousands of pounds worse off than in 2010 when the austerity program started. This will continue to get worse unless start to refuse these cuts and resist this sociopathic government.

Isn't it a shame the same people who go benefit bashing don't want a living wage? Strange that... Especially seeing as most of those who claim benefits are working. The most effective way of reducing benefits is to increase wages. That's a FACT you can take to your soon to be insolvent bank. Even if we continue to bail the useless crime infested lot of them. When China backs their currency with gold our banks are fucked.

There certainly seems to be petty nationalism here too. NHS is not free and it is under severe pressure at present, pressure that potentially risks patient safety. There are cracks here. The hostile response was a bit ott.

> Op, are you employed by the labour party to find and copy&paste this stuff? I have never seen you on threads that are any different.

Why would I be employed by Labour when I don't support Labour?

Labour has been shit and has barely raised a voice against the insane policies of the coalition government.

It is a mistake to assume that because I criticise the vile Tories that I must support Labour. I support neither. Both are neo-liberal business parties. Neither one of them will seek to defend the rights and interests of people in this country who have to work for a living.

> Ttosca - You just said free health care is the sign of a civilised society. By that reckoning, Germany isn't. But you want us to take advice from a German paper?

I want you to engage your brain.

Ignore the fact that it comes from a German newspaper. Investigate the matter for yourself. Is their a cost of living crisis in the UK or not? Has their been a huge rise in homelessness and use of foodbanks in the UK or not? Are people thousands of pounds worse off in real terms now than they were before the financial crisis and austerity measures were brought in?

I think it depends where you live and I hear its bad in places like London as its so expensive there. Where I am plenty of people are on the minimum wage and still have nice things liks sky, smart phones etc. I feel very lucky to live in England as you get so much benefit help.

Isn't it a shame the same people who go benefit bashing don't want a living wage? Strange that... Especially seeing as most of those who claim benefits are working. The most effective way of reducing benefits is to increase wages.

If it was simply a matter of flicking the money lever from one to the other you would be right. Sadly, in the real world which grown-ups inhabit, it isn't. Government can't just 'increase wages', because, luckily for us, government doesn't decide what everyone earns. It can dicker with the minimum wage, and it has its own pay scale for public sector workers - but they don't fix wages.

They do, however, fix benefits, and I agree with you that we should cut benefits as soon as possible.

That's a FACT you can take to your soon to be insolvent bank.

That's not a fact. That's a supposition based upon a spurious assumption.

Even if we continue to bail the useless crime infested lot of them. When China backs their currency with gold our banks are fucked.

China has its own, very exciting problems. Like the world's largest credit bubble. A bubble which dwarfs ours or the one in the US.

Our government, or, to be more honest, taxpayers, pay for tax credits to top up wages paid by massive multi-nationals like Asda, Tesco and others. Why should we subsidise their profits? Is that grown up enough for you Flatpack?

China may have its own massive credit crisis. Their economy is still growing and ours is only growing by dint of property speculation encouraged by Gidiots help to buy scheme inflating house prices. When China backs their currency with gold you'll see who holds the cards economically speaking. Just look at where the Fed and Bank Of England are sending the gold to and where it ends up. It's being shipped in 400oz bars to Switzerland where most of it is being turned into 32oz bars (approx 1kg) to send to China.

The amount of gold futures that central banks have released should've sent the price of physical gold into meltdown but the thing is China and the middle east are buying up every scrap they can get their hands on. I note you don't deny the BOE have sold 1300 tonnes of gold this year. That's interesting.

Why do you think companies, like ASDA, Tesco and others exist? If they don't make profits they will close down taking thousands of jobs with them, plus the choice and competition they provide in the supermarket sector. We would also lose the huge amount of taxes they, and their employees, pay, so government spending would need to be cut further.

They could pay higher wages, certainly, but quite a lot of people are finding it hard to get by with shop prices the way they are. They would really struggle when the increased wages were passed on into prices.

Or, we could increase wages, then prices, then wages, then prices and so on and have raging inflation.